Pants on Fire
by Zena-Xina
Summary: Shawn and Gus are in school when a fire breaks out. Gus is trapped in a closet with no exit. Will Shawn be able to get them both out in time? (kid!fic with whump inside)


_**A/N: Hello all! Can you believe how long it's been since I've posted on here? I lurk on here all the time and read whenever I have a chance but I never get around to writing. And when I do, I always have a bad habit of starting a new story or one-shot and never finishing my current ones (oops). Anyway, here is a one-shot I made today after I got to leave one of my college classes way early because our midterm ended up being a take home test (score). Isn't it crazy how fast time can pass by? When I started writing fanfiction, I was in middle school. Now I'm in college. (I think my skills have improved somewhat lol). Ok now I'm just blabbing, enjoy!**_

* * *

It was around sixth period when everything went into chaos. Shawn had been sitting in his English class pretending to read when he heard faint shouting a few halls away along with the sound of running. Moments later the harsh noise of the fire alarm went off, followed by the slight hysteria of his classmates.

As per protocol, they all got up and left everything behind while their teacher grabbed whatever important packet as they filed out the door in a single line. It was nothing new to Shawn. They had already had one drill this year along with another incident where someone thought it would be fun to pull the alarm to get out of class.

As he made his way out, Shawn instantly started looking for Gus. During the last drill his class had gone out the same exit as his and he was able to sneak into his friend's line.

However it wasn't the absence of Gus that first caused him to be alarmed. The moment he stepped into the hall he could smell the beginning traces of smoke hitting his nostrils. Being the ever curious person he was, Shawn snuck away from his class and went in the opposite direction, deeper into the school.

Shawn followed his nose and noticed that Gus's class ran passed him by, but his best friend was not among them. What had only been a feeling of wonder was now morphing into a full blown panic. Several thoughts crossed through Shawn's mind. What if Gus was trapped somewhere? No, don't think that, he probably just ran out as soon as the alarmed sound. What if he had been in a freak chemistry accident? No, his teacher wouldn't have just left him behind.

Shawn had reached a point where no more students had passed him by and the smoke was getting thicker and stronger. As he made his way down the hall, he used his shirt to cover his mouth and nose. As he reached the third hallway, he heard a faint cry for help. Looking around, Shawn could barely see anything and in what he could see, he didn't see any adults around. Getting closer, he recognized the cry for help, and it made his heart sink.

"Gus!" he cried out. "Where are you?"

He stopped walking as he approached a class with its door wide open with flames in the middle of the room. Wide eyed, he called out again. "Gus!"

He heard a response from the back of the hazy room. "Shawn! I'm in the closet!" Gus coughed out.

Not having a second thought, Shawn plowed into the science lab, trying to get to the back closet. The heat from the flames made Shawn's skin drip with sweat as he tried finding a path to the other side of the room. By now the fire had spread to make a line in the middle of the room, separating it in half. The smoke made Shawn want to hack his lungs out of his body.

Using his quick thinking skills on his rapidly fogging brain, Shawn jumped onto one of the tables and leap frogged his way across the room. The tables that were his bridge across the flames were further apart than any of the other ones. Taking a few steps back, Shawn ran and jumped, landing hard on the other table, one leg on and one leg off, causing him to trip onto it.

Shawn jumped and howled in pain as his left leg touched the edge of the flames, causing an immense pain to spread across his skin. He brought his leg up, tears springing in his eyes. Never in his life had he ever felt so much pain. He feverishly patted the area, distinguishing the flames on his jeans and shoe. He could feel the heat on his leg as his jeans had been burned away and the burnt flesh revealed itself.

"Shawn!" Gus croaked. "Are you o *cough* kay?"

All he could cough out was a quiet, "Yeah!" to his buddy.

Slowly but still on alert, Shawn crawled off the table and over to the closet Gus had been calling from. Reaching out, he grabbed the handle of the door and yelped again when the metal made his hand red. He wasn't even able to turn the handle.

"It's locked, Shawn!" Gus exclaimed.

Of course it is, thought Shawn, Looking around, he spotted a hammer lying on a desk from a project. Picking up the wood with his other hand, Shawn started whacking the handle to the door until his friend was able to push his way though.

"Oh my gosh Shawn, what happened to your leg!" Gus coughed out.

Shawn refused to look down. Feeling the pain was enough to let him know it was there. "Let's go!"

Together they made their way through the classroom, with Gus half dragging his pained and tired friend. Going a different way, they were able to find another desk with not as far of a jump over the flames. Once they made it out of the room, they were ready to collapse in the hallway.

"C'mon Shawn, we have to get out of the building! No one probably even knows we are in here!" Gus exclaimed.

Nodding, Shawn used Gus as a brace for his non-complacent leg. Two hallways later they finally made it outside where dozens of kids and teachers were lined up, staring at them. After a few steps, both boys collapsed in a coughing, sooty heap.

Shawn didn't even get to see the reaction from his classmates before his body gave into his exhaustion.

* * *

When he woke up, Shawn wasn't too surprised to realize he was in a hospital. He slowly woke up, letting himself take in his surroundings and letting his brain clear up before he opened his eyes. He could feel the oxygen supply in his nose and a bandage on his hand. He was pretty sure that an IV was stuck into his other hand. His memory told him he had burned his leg but he couldn't really

The first sight that met him was his dad sitting in the chair next to him, reading the newspaper.

"Dad?" Shawn whispered, voice hoarse from the smoke.

Henry put the paper down in his lab and looked over at his son. "Shawn, nice to see you have decided to rejoin us…. How do you feel?" he asked, uncharacteristically gentle.

"Like I've swallowed a cat and been beaten by a cactus".

"That's very… specific. How about pain-wise? They insisted on giving you some of the good stuff" Henry said.

"I hardly even feel it… So, uhm, what's the damage?" Shawn asked.

Henry rubbed his face as he ran through what the doctor told him. "Well, luckily your leg only suffered second degree burns, although they said a small section had some worse damage than the rest. All in all though, it should heal nicely. You have a first degree burn on you hand, which will heal quickly, and some pretty nasty smoke inhalation. The doctor wants to keep you a minimum of one night to make sure you are okay and don't get an infection from your burn".

Shawn listened, taking it in, but wasn't surprised by anything his dad told him. "Where's Gus?" he questioned. "Is he alright?"

"Yes, Gus is fine. They treated him for smoke inhalation and then let him leave not too long ago. He wanted to come up here to be with you, but his parents insisted he go home to recover, which I agreed." Henry explained.

"Oh, okay. So…." Shawn swallowed. "How much trouble am I in?"

Henry sighed and looked Shawn in the eye. "Look, you and I will be having a stern talk about carelessness, but I would be in the wrong to punish you. The truth is you saved Gus. I can't tell you that's wrong, but you might want to rethink your method is something similar happens again. I actually hear you are catching quite a reputation right now. I've heard the word "hero" tossed around several times."

Shawn grinned from ear to ear. "So does this mean that I get the key to the city and all of the girls that I want at school?"

Henry rolled his eyes. "I highly doubt it Shawn. The only reward you're getting is staying home from school- but you are still going to have to keep up with your work once they start again."

Shawn sighed. "Oh, alright…. Wait, did Gus ever say why he was trapped in the closet in the first place?"

"Oh yeah. I believe in his statement he said that he had asked the teacher to unlock it so he could get something out of there. While he was looking around, one of the student's experiments caught fire. He didn't know however until some of the other kids starting screaming. He said that when the alarm went off, someone ran past him, slamming the door close, not knowing he was in there. The door automatically locked and he couldn't get out. He tried yelling but over the alarm no one could hear him until you arrived."

"Oh wow, that's terrifying. I'm glad I was able to get to him in time, I would hate to imagine what would have happened if I hadn't. But I definitely know one thing." Shawn said, a sly grin on his face.

"What's that?"

"I'm _never_ letting Gus ever forget this one. He's going to owe me so many favors and pineapples".

 _ **THE END.**_

 _ **A/N: I feel like the ending is a little weak, but I had so many things I wanted to go over and say that I ended up just doing a short Henry and Shawn Q &A session. I still didn't even manage to get to everything in the way that I kind of wanted.**_

 _ **So, did you enjoy it? I know it's short but I like to think that it's short and simple. I also left the age/grade level up to your own interpretation, but I kind of placed them as being in 8th grade in my head.**_

 _ **Well, if you liked it I would appreciate it if you could leave me a comment. Thanks for reading! Bye!**_


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